Make Pinterest Part of a Marketing Plan

Make Pinterest Part of a Marketing Plan

While Pinterest can be a great place to land a deal, that’s not the primary focus of New York–based firm Houlihan Lawrence Real Estate’s Pinterest page. Instead, the company tries to give users something useful beyond a sales pitch.

Kerry Barger, Houlihan Lawrence’s social engagement manager, uses photos from the company’s active listings to create pinboards highlighting interior design features. On Houlihan Lawrence’s Pinterest page, there are pinboards for bedroom, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, outdoor, and rec room styles, among others. Each photo on the pinboards links back to the original listings on Houlihan Lawrence’s Web site.

Barger says it allows Houlihan Lawrence to represent itself as an expert on more than just buying and selling.

“Agents have to take on all these other responsibilities beyond selling,” she says. “They have to be lifestyle gurus, decor and staging experts — that’s what we try to give people who come to us on Pinterest.

“We try to bring in the fun aspect of [real estate],” Barger continues. “We want to provide any user that comes to our site with something interesting.”

Houlihan Lawrence’s Pinterest approach seems to be paying off: Barger says the company gets about 500 referrals a month to its Web site from its Pinterest page — its second-highest social media source of referrals.

“A lot of the interest is shifting away from Facebook and Twitter to Pinterest because it’s so visually stunning,” she adds. “Clients can use it as an online catalogue to flip through homes.”

Houlihan Lawrence has been placing more importance on Pinterest in its marketing plan, making it a major focus over the last two years, Barger says. “I can only see it getting more popular,” she says. “Pinterest is the next frontier in social selling for us.”